News

2012 MacBook Pro Retina Will Hike Up Your Internet Charges

The Wall Street Journal warned earlier this week that chief information officers with an easy going “bring your own device” policy might find that their company networks become clogged if employees bring the latest MacBook Pro Retina computers to work.

WSJ: 2012 MacBook Pro Retina will indirectly raise bandwidth usage

The new MacBook Pro was revealed at Apple’s developer conference on Monday this week (WWDC 2012), and its lauded Retina display, with a 2880×1800 pixel resolution crammed into a 15.4” screen, has really got people going.

It may also, however, cause chaos on CIO’s networks and connectivity spends. Some analysts have posited that the owners of high-resolution devices may consume more video and HD video than others, resulting in a higher bandwidth consumption.

Experts earlier this year told CIO Journal that workers using the latest iPad, with its 2048x1536p Retina display would be more likely to download much more video content because of the attractive and crisp display. This bandwidth usage might slow company networks and raise data costs from networks.

CIOs, then, should monitor network usage to make sure their employees aren’t watching lots of HD YouTube content. They might also want to follow Google’s example and bill employees every month for the IT services they use, and to record the usage throughout the company.